Manning a 'Wreck' Army Shouldn't Have Sent to Iraq

Soldier underwent psych evaluations regularly, given to outbursts
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted May 28, 2011 8:47 AM CDT
Bradley Manning Was a 'Wreck' the Army Shouldn't Have Sent to Iraq
Bradley Manning, the US Army private suspected of being the source of some of the unauthorized classified information disclosed on WikiLeaks.   (AP Photo, File)

Bradley Manning never should have been let near Iraq, much less the classified trove he spilled to WikiLeaks, reports the Guardian in a look at the Army private's mental health. "He was harassed so much that he once pissed in his sweatpants," says an anonymous officer from the base where Manning trained, calling him "a mess of a child." Manning was prone to outbursts, regularly hauled in for psych evaluations, and once punched "a chick in the face"—yet sent on his way to Baghdad, security clearance intact.

"Low-flying planes could have seen that kid wasn't suitable," says a former soldier who recalls Manning "curled up in a fetal position on his bunk." "He was a wreck." Couple that with security so lax that passwords were scrawled on sticky notes on laptops at Manning's base, and as a former comrade says, "no wonder something like this transpired." Watch the 19-minute Guardian video here. (More Bradley Manning stories.)

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